Sachin Bansal invests Rs 500 crore in NBFC firms Altico and IndoStar

Soon after investing $100 million in a ride-hailing firm Ola, Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal has invested Rs 500 crore via debt in non-banking financial companies (NBFC) Altico Capital and IndoStar Capital.

The investment was made through his holding company BAC Acquisitions, which Bansal launched with Ankit Agarwal, said people aware of the development.

Of late, the lenders have been facing liquidity crisis largely owing to a series of defaults at Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services.

The investment will help them manage their working capital requirements and to leverage their books, added sources.

Last week, we had reported Bansal is planning to make an investment in financial services due to the scope of innovation and unprecedented scale in it. He is exploring the segment and seeking advice from financial experts.

He reportedly had discussions with RBI’s official regarding regulatory needs and the requirement to start a bank.

However, Altico and IndoStar both are yet to confirm the investment from Flipkart co-founder.

Bansal, who co-founded Flipkart over a decade ago with Binny Bansal, had quit after the US-based retail firm Walmart acquired a 77 per cent stake in the Bengaluru-based online retail company for $16 billion in May last year. He made about $5.5 billion through the deal.

This month, Flipkart co-founder invested about 10 per cent of his Flipkart fortunes in Ola.

In the last four years, he has made about 12 investments in startups including Inshorts, Unacademy, Ather Energy, Sigtuple, Plabo Networks, and Tracxn.

The development was first reported by Mint.